The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-07-10

The Fate or tho Pespie ef the ship Empress,
which was Rurnea at Sea.

| which men. women, and children can DO placed
ia In case Of fire or wreck on the ocean, and
have witnessed many examples OF itin my flf-
teen years at sea. A few lines In q newspaper
the other day recalled to mind the Incidents
connected with the loss OF the Empress.
| British ship bound to Australia with noarly
400 people.
1t was an hour after noon OF fine, clear day
In summer. and the Captain had Just figured
| out the position Of the ship as due west OF
Melbourne 480 miles, whom there was an ex-
| plosion In the forecastle. followed at once by
smoke and flame, and half dozen sailors all
more or less badly burned. tumbed up the
ladder with shouts Of fire. What brought
was no Time 70 ask questions While the ship
was In danger and in couple Of hours we were
Empress. and i0f asssed the last man up the
smother the flames until we could set ready to
| fight them. In spite Of our being sailing YES.
sci. with only hand pumps to light the fire. and
| OF our having mixed passenger list, 1t would
70 sf the rst shsr
ad come and gone We laid the hoss manned
| Of water into the forecastle.
There was lair breeze and a. moderate sea.
and while part OF the crew, assisted by anum-
Der OF willing passengers. worked ut tho Ire the
others kept the ship on her course was GER
tain at frat that we should conquer the fire. but
port to the Captain that the flames were gain
Ing ON us. They had worked into the fore
peak. among the paints, oils and pitch stored
| water to float house OIL Its foundations we
made a no mpr tnia f on the the hamss %nen
said; ,o.uo H. .,,,.. .s,u, ,,..
shape. We can hold the IRE for half an ' hour
or more. and that will give you time to put in
l called the steward and one of the cooks
in poaa os to nay ss
sailor and the COOK attended to the water kegs,
the and myself bEeuFhsd tine
room for every soul on board. and the only fear
was that the people might get In frenzy at
psrate By fear: We did not seem to
sss Sa or ns Fsa Sns
ready for Launching. Each boat had water
and provisions Tor ten days for its complement.
was to have charge Of i placed my revolver
ket and y lot Of BLANK cartridges for firing sig
nails. personally inspected each keg OF water
ses that the san and
oars were there. When reported to the Cap
tain again he replied;
aft and we will launch the boats"
l got eight or ten men together. some pas
getting the quarter boats over and alongslde
the first mate and few sailors got the long
exhibit
Of panic. They were all on deck you under
stand some praying and weeping, some suiien
like q dock Of sheep, as soon as leader could
be found. The leader was found when the
scream wont up from a hundred throats He
was LIVERPOOL rough-a burly, big fellow,
w wra ss s snd shter He had WORKED iks
| hero at the pumps, and had done much to en-
courage Others but when he saw the -; ship was
"4N fasS iSr the boats we shall all be blown
There would have been rush and q great
s %
and then calmly said to the people: =,
MY friends there y no hurry rE,. " We shall
long time ysI We have no powder aboard be
u boat VIII f9 ssasR Pss sas
He nbbed about the distance. but that was
Oh before tho wind. and whom that had boon
me IN With
told % for The boats We had sx s0ts
Once or twice. as We were getting
back. and afterward there was nc. trouble.
rni to Il "
your heart ache to denote their looks: Grim
hsd settled down on sseK Sns
and not one in dozen could utter word.
Some Of the women stared straight before
= as WITH sh ~hsa
| they went over the ran. A..
a sSa PEOPLE eas IN
- sssTs 5 SaS
one n ssIIol q ths isuT others enc was III
was q specialized professor OF botany. and the
third and fourth were young men going out to
sn 70 sndsard 00ss the s sho n' i.
was drifting, slowly. and then r ARRANGED my
SH 0 Ne1 tn fSHH m
Visions plscsd in the stern and the sailor had
pATffh Then stood sSsa Giss we
told them we were near land had a. safe boat
only only p,sn question Of low hours when We
should sight the great island. Up to this
spasen xot was
dumb, AfterI sat down, however, the rough
cheer which f9 3Ss ys paSa
selves gave zach ono kind word. and by
| the time we were all settled down the Cap
taips boat was pulling away from the ship
and the fire had worked its way back almost to
the noble ship going to her destruction In that
way and the change which ian, an hoT w had I'd
hurried from the stout decks OF q big ship into
Q small boat is to give up for the time being al
your feeling Of security Yor ARR are i, SO close to
and the movement OF the small boat Is so re:
sponsiye to the slightest swell that even good
sir, an officer though was, and trying very
hard to be eool and hopeful, when we were
being so far away. and the psrils Of the ocean
so numerous, felt like crying with the chill
dren.
The Captain had given each one Of us the
true course to steer as We left the ship, and
hang out at night. His boat and that Of the
first mate had compasses; ! was provided
boats had none. However. the idea was to
keep in sight Of each other. and had this been